Meet You There
by xblissfuloblivion
Summary: You're gone away, I'm left alone, a part of me is gone and I'm not moving on so wait for me I know the day will come I'll meet you there...Ray and Neela Oneshot. Spoilers for I Don't and The Honeymoon's Over.


_**Rating:** FRT (slight language)_

_**Summary:** You're gone away I'm left alone a part of me is gone and I'm not moving on so wait for me I know the day will come I'll meet you there...Ray and Neela Oneshot. Spoilers for I Don't and The Honeymoon's Over._

_**Disclaimer:** I don't own ER or Simple Plan._

_**Spoilers:** I Don't and The Honeymoon's Over._

_**AN:** This came to me last night before I went to bed. Didn't come out that well but I'm quite happy with it : ) And I repeat I wouldn't want anything like this to happen in the show EVER. I know it's quite depressing and it's VERY different for me but I hope you like it and BTW the song is Meet You There by Simple Plan._

* * *

She was gone. Maybe this wasn't the right way to start but was there even any right way to start it? She was gone and she was never coming back. He could remember that fateful day his life changed forever perfectly, no matter how much he wanted to forget he couldn't.

It had started out as a simple telephone call. He was finally ready to talk to her. As he'd dialled County's number a smile was on his face. He had been ready, he had been ready to forget and forgive and move on, move on with her.

--------

"_County General Hospital, how may I help you?" Abby's voice asked picking up._

"_Hey Abby, it's Ray." He said._

"…_Hey Ray." Was her slightly tense response._

"_Is Neela there?" he asked._

_There had been a long pause. He could sense something was wrong._

"_What is it, Abby?" he asked worriedly._

"_Ray-…" she said her voice choked up._

"_Abby, where's Neela…"_

"_Ray…there was an accident about four months ago…" she said._

_His brow furrowed. Four months ago. It had been four months since his accident. It had been four months since he had left County to come to Baton Rouge. It had been four months since he had last spoken to her._

"_What are you talking about, Abby?" he began confused._

"_Honey, four months ago…there was a peace rally for Iraq…" she began._

"_Yeah, I heard about that, there was some sort of stampede-…oh god…" he whispered as he began to put the pieces together._

"_She…Neela was there-and she…got pulled under…honey she was in a coma for four months." Abby told him her voice breaking._

_Ray began to shake._

"_What do you mean she **was** _in_ a coma? Abby?" he asked as the truth began to settle in._

"_Ray…Neela died…last night…" she whispered._

"_No…no…no…" he whispered._

"_Ray…I'm sorry…" she whispered._

_He heard her distant voice fade as he dropped the phone to the floor._

---------

_Now you're gone  
I wonder why  
you left me here  
I think about it on,  
and on, and on, and on again_

He had been a day late. A fucking day late to tell her everything, to tell her everything he had wanted to say, everything he _needed _to say.

_I know you're never coming back  
I hope that you can hear me  
I'm waiting to hear from you  
until I do…_

He had broken down in sobs as he remembered their last conversation together.

--------

"_I might come and visit you. I've never been to Baton Rouge." Neela said with a small smile._

"_Don't." he said coldly._

"_What?" she asked confusedly._

_"Just don't tell me you're going to do something when I know you won't." he said._

_She frowned._

_"Why don't you think I'd come visit you?" she asked._

"_Because that's what our relationship is Neela, you give me hope and I like a fool believe you." He said._

"_That's not true." She interrupted._

"_Yes it is true. I've waited for you, I trusted you, I fought for you and I even fell in love with you." He said softly._

_She looked at him sadly, tears brimming in her eyes._

"_But for what? So you could keep running back to Gates." He said looking away from her._

"_But that's what I've been trying to tell you, Tony and I- we're done." She said._

_He looked at her sadly._

"_Well it doesn't really matter anymore does it?" he told her, almost challenging her to respond when he didn't get one he turned his head away to gaze out the window._

_--------_

And that was it. The last conversation he had, had with her. If only he knew then that if he had changed some of those bitter words he had said, she might have still been here. With him.

_You're gone away  
I'm left alone  
A part of me  
Is gone and I'm not moving on  
So wait for me  
I know the day will come  
I'll meet you there_

At her funeral he sat there in the first row. He could feel everyone's sympathetic gaze on him. He could almost hear what they were thinking. _Poor guy, too bad for him,_ _the love story gone tragically wrong. _

_no matter where life takes me to  
I'll meet you there  
And even if I leave you here  
I'll meet you there_

Abby had taken his hand and squeezed it gently as they watched her coffin being lowered into the ground as he stared numbly at it until it had disappeared from sight. Forever.

_I wish I could have told you  
the things I kept inside  
but now I guess it's just too late_

As everyone left the graveyard, giving him their condolences and leaving him to be alone with her. For one last time. He felt the sobs escape his mouth as he dropped _the_ shirt down below where it gently landed on her coffin below. The shirt a little piece of black material. So simple so unimportant but it told to just the two of them their long and harrowing love story.

"You'll always be with me and I'll always be with you." He whispered before turning and walking away.

_So many things remind me of you  
I hope that you can hear me  
I miss you  
this is good-bye one last time_

As he walked through the streets of Chicago in a daze. Everything seemed to haunt him. The Jumbomart, the light layer of snow covering the ground, Ikes, the hospital…everything had something to do with _their _story behind it.

He knew what he had to do. It would have been what she would have wanted.

_And where I go  
you'll be there with me  
forever you'll be right here with me_

40 years later just days before his 69th birthday. Ray Barnett passed on. A small contented smile on his face. One that hadn't been seen for years. People who knew their story knew why. It was because he was there. With her.

And they were finally…

Together.

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_What did ya think?_

_Please review and tell me : )_


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